Bill Ayers On Hardball: Calls Accusations "Profoundly Dishonest" (VIDEO)

"I don't tend to watch television news...I have three grown sons who kind of filter those things and they sent it to me."

That's Bill Ayers, making an appearance this evening on Hardball, with Chris Matthews. Once of the Weather Underground, Ayers was more recently a central figure in the vast booga-foo nightmare that the GOP tried to paralyze the nation with to prevent the election of Barack Obama, because they didn't have any ideas or policies they wanted to talk about instead. I guess. I mean, such things could have been useful to a presidential campaign or something! Anyway, instead, we had loud braying about how Obama and Ayers might have met at some point, and Obama's failure to strike Ayers down in cold blood for his crimes was proof that they were in cahoots with one another. Or, in the parlance of Alaska Secessionists, "pallin' around."

Asked about his reaction to Palin's "palling around with terrorists remark, Ayers said: "I thought it was outrageous and profoundly dishonest, and I chose not to react to it at the time."

Ayers added, "I was on a board with President-Elect Obama, we did live in the same neighborhood, but the dishonesty of the narrative is that if you can place two people in the same room or prove that they took a bus downtown together, that they're somehow responsible for one anothers politics, policies, outlook, and behavior, and that seems to me to be patently absurd."

Matthews, along the way, talks about supposed Weather Underground targets like the Pentagon and the Capitol building having special "resonance" because they were hit on 9/11. I know, I know...unlike the Weather Underground, al Qaeda did not furnish evacuation warnings in advance of their attacks. Also, despite what Chris Matthews thinks, the Capitol Building was actually NOT ATTACKED ON 9/11.

Of those bombings, Ayers says, "I don't defend those actions...what I try to do in Fugitive Days is try to understand how this young man...in that context could find himself in these extreme positions." Lots of passive voice in the description, huh? "I think we made enormous mistakes," Ayers says, adding, "I think there were terrible things done." Ayers goes on to say he favors a sort of "truth and reconciliation" moment where everyone comes clean about what they did during the Vietnam War. Somehow I think Robert McNamara isn't going to see eye to eye with this concept.

"I don't want to defend what we did, nor do I think it was completely insane," Ayers says. Matthews remembers some demonstrations and some activism from the period, that he felt was more effective than bombing. What is it that distinguishes a protesting assemblage from a cabal of bombers? Desperation borne of solitude, perhaps. I'm tempted to say: the sort of narcissism that inspires a man to make sure the first thing he says to a TV newsman is that he doesn't watch television news.

For what it's worth, Chris Matthews' judgment was that Bill Ayers was a changed man. Make of that what you will.

[WATCH.]

Comments

[Carolab]

What is the message here, anyway? Why is this Ayers thing constantly being brought up in the media? What are they trying to say? Don't behave as Ayers did to protest your government?

[ponderingmuch]

I think that is a very good idea, yes. Please protest, please do not use bombs to do it.

[darthdarcy]

Well is was pretty involved in the anti war movement then, and had to deal with a lot of the guys who turned SDS into a group that would destroy property and and then those who went all the way over the edge of the abyss and started the Weathermen which spun off from the more radical wing of SDS...and actually commit act of violence or plan such outrageous acts such as bombings...

Those who took this route did wonders for those such as Nixon and Agnew, Hoover and others who wanted to discredit the anti war movement and allowed the great crack down of 1968 and the landslide election of Richard "Dick" Nixon...

Guys like Ayers and the Weathermen along with Jane Fonda and some very few others really helped destroy the anti war movement and all the progress made and potential progress we could have made back then...

It was all about them and not the movement...

[TheHandyman]

You obviously weren't around then or you would see how uninformed your obsrvations are. These people did what was necessary to end a long, unnecesssary war and saved thousands more young peoples lives. If you want proof look at what has been going on in this count for some 6 years now. The country engaged in an illegal and unnecessary invasion of 2 sovereign countries and has been occupying them ever since. We have poured billions of dollars into that war, the profits to the war machinery has sucked this country dry to the point where we are bankrupt, and people still go to WalMart and put little magnetic ribbons saying they support the troops. They hell they do. What these troops need is some major support, some heavy duty protests that bring government to their knees, and tho I hate to say it, maybe some violence, because we have a government that has no qualms about kidnpping, torturing, and abusing its own citizens for any excuse. A free society sometimes needs people like Ayers to help it maintain its freedom. It is people like Ayers that Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he said that the tree of liberty sometimes need the blood of patriots to keep it strong. The enemy to freedom is not always another country.

[StillIRise]

Thank you again! I am now a committed fan of the Handyman!

[LorettaSingbiel]

"These people did what was necessary to end a long, unnecesssary war and saved thousands more young peoples lives."

EXACTLY the excuse OUR Commander-In-Chief gave for DELIBERATELY dropping TWO ATOM BOMBS on HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of INNOCENT Japanese civilians. But WE are NEVER the "TERRORISTS" ... right?

[boophus]

You are absolutely right. It was the extremists who were so angry and outraged they tried to hasten the process by behaving like those they were against. I participated in MIA/POW activities and marches against the war. But I never attacked returning soldiers and never supported the north vietnamese like the most radical did. At 19, I signed up with the USAF and served 4 years during that war .

I was standing in a the lab at the old David Grant Medical Center on Travis AFB when they announced that the Vietnam War was over ... I stood there with tears running down my face. My husband joined the army voluntarily and was shot in Vietnam even while against the war.

I felt the war was being fought for really bad reasons. If you are going to go to war for some stupid reasons then you should at least do a good job of it but Vietnam was such an ill run war and wasted so many young lives. We still are dealing with that collateral damage of Vietnam and now we have a new STUPID wars' collateral & direct damage to deal with.

[HumeSkeptic]

Bill Ayers was part of a group that exploded a few b0mbs that k!lled nor injured anyone, to protest an unjust war and police brutality. And he is a terr0rist.

K!ss!nger carpet b0mbed Cambodia, k!llinhg hundreds of thousand civilians, and he is a respected Statesman.
.

[EarthToZoey]

Henry K1ss1nger was (is) atrociously misguided, and so was Ayers on another level.

[HumeSkeptic]

Just another level?
Not causing any de@th or injury, and k!lling hundreds of thousand is just a difference in level?

Trying to stop an unjust war, and illegal escalation of a major war with devastating consequences is just a difference in level?

In other words, both are in the same category, but different levels?

Again, we have a difference of opinion. To me, one is just the opoosite of the other.
.

[jillsond]

Love your name, but you need to look at it literally.

[ICUrTrueColors]

This is false equivalence in my opinion. How can one insist that the setting off of a few small bombs that killed no one is as atrocious as the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people? I don't understand that thinking.

[Beowoof]

Another level? Secret bombings in Cambodia and the overthrow of Salvador Allende of Chile compared to bombings that killed no one? Try another analogy. At least Che Guevera for starters.

[Tyrione]

Ayers bombs did kill people. Collateral damage did occur, even if they "thought" it wouldn't occur. However, bombs exploding at private residences were planned and thought to have permanent damage.

Now with Kissinger: Nations have been killing in the name of Civilization long before the term was coined. How many did FDR allow die in WWII? How many did Truman allow die in WWII? How many died in WWI because Woodrow Wilson didn't head the words of Teddy Roosevelt and intervened where we weren't asked to do so?

Europe was obliterated twice over and still people don't grasp the difference between an Act of War atrocity versus a personal atrocity.

When you declare war on a nation you don't selectively get to hold it's commanders accountable for events that may or may not be savory to your pallet, especially when it's within the designed boundaries of War agreed upon by Nations.

I can't stomach Kissinger, but I despise the 3 million lives lost after we pulled out of Vietnam. In hindsight, being the world's police force is neither desired nor wanted; and in reality there will always be atrocities in this world and some we should never be involved in, beyond matters of diplomacy.

[neumann]

Jesus, this really brings out the crazy.

Why do hard core lefties have to play in to the right wing parody machine?

Bill Ayers is not Osama Bin Laden in Birkenstocks, nor is he a hero. The guy is a fool.

And for all of you who jumped all over the guy who suggested a shower, a shave and a shirt before appearing on national TV if you want to be taken seriously, what are you smoking?

It is not a question of his right to dress as he pleases. It is about the implications of appearing as a dirty hippie stereotype if you intend to communicate with an audience beyond a VW bus full of Phish fans

my blog at http://neumann103.wordpress.com

[mikesw]

Vietnam War:
58,000 dead U.S. men and women in uniform
1.5 MILLION dead Vietnamese

but the real evil, that deserves prison time and public condemnation 35 years later is a vandalized bathroom

[iswideopen]

Mr. Ayers:
You were wrong, period. It was supposed to be done the "non-violent" way. No one listens when you "act out" violently. You solved nothing. That said, you seemed a bit "apologetic". A full apology for the "errors of your youth" would be much appreciated by the American people. If not, life goes on.

[cronkyvoddy]

When did you start making the rules? No apology from Ayers needed here. And life goes on.

[HumeSkeptic]

Bill Ayers should not apologize for anything. He said that b0mbings were mistakes. That should be the extent of it. Those were mistakes, because those did not help the cause of stopping the war. Had those succeeded, those would have not been mistakes, especially because no one was hurt or injured.

[ExRepublican]

Mistakes? F'n MISTAKES?

[111]

Please speak for yourself because I do not expect or want an apology from Mr. Ayers or any of the activists who were desperately trying to stop an illegal war.

While it didn't stop the criminal actions of the US government it did bring awareness. The draft was in place and many thousands of innocent Americans and Vietnamese were dying to make certain men in America rich. Remember, rich boys didn't go to Vietnam, e.g. Bush

To put things into a little more perspective, only a few years before some of our state governments turned police attack dogs and fire hoses on people trying to eat at an all white counter and to end discrimination in the south and our federal government didn't want to interfere.

No, Mr. Ayers owes me no apologies. I honor and respect him and his wife for their life's work regardless of some missteps along the way.

[cheforacle]

The heinous acts of the Johnson and Nixon administrations in Vietnam and the conduct of police outfits in the South in the early 60's towards African-Americans does not excuse Mr. Ayers's acts of terrorism. Since when can't we apply proportionality to behavior. Ayers was wrong. Johnson and Nixon much more wrong when it comes at least to Vietnam. And while Ayers was wrong to set off bombs (regardless of the intent) just as somebody shouldn't go randomly firing a gun in a neighborhood and then, after someone gets hurt, say while I thought everybody was asleep, he appears to have spent the last twenty or so years productively teaching students and just as he deserves blame for his misdeeds, he deserves praise for his good works.

[LorettaSingbiel]

WELL SAID!!! I feel the same way!

[TheHandyman]

You think he was wrong because you really like having your rights and freedoms taken away, your children sent off to die in wars for oil and wealth. Just so rich people can get richer and you can become their serf. Ayers has nothing to apologize for. His acts helped stop another unjust war and saved thousands of more young peoples lives. You should thank him!

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Sorry I'm just not to sympathetic about Ayers. Violence begets violence that is proven in all of human history.

I saw a great documentary on the RAF Red Army Faction a left wing ter rorist group in Germany during the 70s. In the end all that happened was dozens of people were needlessly killed by a bunch of people led by a few psychopaths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

[TheHandyman]

Yes, yes, oh my, so we are really an expert on protest and violence because we saw a documentary. Whoopdedoo! Try reading the Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Llook up Kent State and then post your great wisdom about how things should be done nonviolently. Nonviolence takes a huge mass of people willing to be beaten, killed, tortured, and imprisoned in order to keep their rights or fight for change. People in Myanmar have the courage to do it. People in Mexico have the courage to do it. People in countries all around the world have the courage, but Americans, however, do not. They sit home and watch a documentary and then tell other people how to do it!

[kidflash]

Ayers seems like a sweet man. I'd let him babysit my 8 y/o

[VivaZapata]

After the interview that mealy-mouthed michelle bernard had some insightful comments about his earrings and general scruffiness. To me, she represents more of what journalism has become. Here's a hot topic and an interesting repartee between ayers and matthiews and all this uptight, standard bearer of appearance propriety can talk about is how the guy looks. Pathetic.

[111]

Yes, at first I was astonished that her only comments had to do with not liking Mr. Ayers' earrings and hair cut.

It is what I might expect from Paris Hilton - sorry Paris, I don't know if you are as shallow as Michelle Bernard and I don't mean to insult you by comparing this empty, but talking head to you.

[btanner]

I'm glad things turned out the way they have, but I wonder sometimes why it takes to have a perfect storm of two wars and a very bad economy to make people realize that this sort of dishonesty has no place in our lives at all.

[jillsond]

Ayers' past is very much relevant to our involvement in an unnecessary war today.

His honesty and bravery is awe-inspiring.

I'm so glad he's speaking his piece (peace).

[Ged2012]

I could think of a parallel to this whole nut job: the poem entitled "The Emperor's New Wardrobe", which is essentially a poem with that title but with the entire page blank below it.

It means that people view things differently. If one is obsessed with Sarah Palin, for example, even if her hubby was a member of the Alaskan Independent Party or that she prepared a speech for the group, such fact does not matter to them since they love her. And they make a big issue of Ayers' link to Obama even if the two have got nothing to do with each other other than working on educational reform.

[jillsond]

Good point. I'm struggling with calling my sister back tonight, a Palin supporter, whom I haven't spoken to since Oct.

Gotta love and respect her thoughts and views, regardless of mine. Aggghhh!

[HumeSkeptic]

It is clear that Bill Ayers' realtionship with Obama was casual, and all that Hannity pr0paganda was bunk.

However, as a liberal, I resent when a decent and honorable man like Bill Ayers is maligned not only by the Right Wing, but some on the Left, just so it doesn't hurt their candidate in some way.

Many did the same thing with Rev. Wright.

Whatever mistakes Ayers made when he was in his twenties, and a student at U. of Michigan, he fought for a good cause. He did what every patriotic American should have done : protest police brutality against Blacks and protest an unjust war that k!lled millions.

I wish there were more like Bill Ayers during the past eight years to fight the fasc!sts currently occupying our White House and k!lling hundreds of thousand around the world.
.

[EarthToZoey]

I'm not viewing this in the context of how it effects Obama. I don't think Ayers is corrupt or should be maligned, I just feel that the crimes he committed were unethical and am a bit troubled to see people equating it to "protests".

[ErikW65]

Right, but you are also equating Ayers' acts of property damage with "violence," similar to the way the Right tried to say that there was a similarity between what Ayers did and what took place on 9/11.

[jillsond]

Nice name. My daughter's name is Zoey. I respect what you're saying, but the Vietnam war saw people protesting in ways that we can only dream of. Bombing buildings was wrong, but it was a last resort for vociferous protesters who weren't being heard.

Anyhoo. He's still speaking out. He's a great example of turning one's life around for the better. He'll make history.

[HumeSkeptic]

We have a difference of opinion. "Crime" is a legal term. To me what is legal is not always just, and what is illegal is not always unjust.
Laws were broken during the Civil Rights movement, laws were broken when slaves fled from the South, and laws were broken when Gandhi made salt from sea water in India.

[unity08]

As a young protestor myself at the time it would be difficult to describe the frustration of the continuing savagery that was Viet Nam. Brothers, boyfriends, husbands, fathers, and sons taken from loved ones with no choice in the matter. The atrocities they faced were unimaginable to most. I knew many that never returned and many who were never the same afterward.
I was a peaceful protestor but I remember those who were not. They had reached the edge. They felt they had no other choice. Viet Nam was our national nightmare and it was relentless in its horror. It wore down those who tried to work within the system. I dont condone the violence of Ayers and others, but I do understand how it came to pass.

[111]

Ayers was never convicted of any crimes so that is

In 1973, the federal government requested the dismissal of the charges against the couple (Ayers and Dohrn) in the interest of national security following accusations of government misconduct,but state charges against Dohrn remained. She turned herself in to authorities in 1980. She was fined $1,500 and given three years probation.

I don't agree with the use of bombs under any circumstances because you can never know for sure the buildings will be empty or what will be hit by debris so there is always the possibility of harming a person

As a country we seem to be torn between the methods/styles of John Brown and Martin Luther King, Jr. I don't think we can judge these actions outside of the times in which they occur.

[ohio4obama]

I don't think you should resent it. I for one don't like to characterize anyone as "honorable", "decent", "courageous", "heroic" etc etc, because no person is that at all times. I think actions can have those characterizations but we are all fallible at some point.

[ohio4obama]

Perhaps the way Ayers lives his life now is decent. Perhaps his want to fight injustice and an apathetic govt was honorable. The bombings...ehh not so much.

[ExRepublican]

I thought you were a blowhard, hypocrite and MAJOR LEAGUE hypester. Overall, mostly harmless. In other words, a typical pseudo lib.

I was wrong.

You truly frighten me. I mean, seriously. How many other 'libs' on here agree with you? I don't think I want to know the answer. Actually, I do. Stand up and be counted.

As far as how Ayers 'looks' and your explaining his appearance AND attitude away... Amazing. Truly amazing. Out comes that hypocrite part of you rearing it's ugly head.........

[cronkyvoddy]

Make that at least 2.

And "I thought you were a blowhard, hypocrite and MAJOR LEAGUE hypester. Overall, mostly harmless. In other words, a typical pseudo neo-con"

Where do you guys get this lingo? Its creepy.

[HumeSkeptic]

Your obsession with my person is weird. All you know is my moniker, and you might have read a few posts from me. And I "frighten" you?

Have you considered mental therapy?

[Myshkin57]

I agree with some of what you say, but Ayers has had 40 years to think about his past. He should realize by now that his actions could have hurt or killed a lot of people, even if they didn't and he didn't intend to. It would have been nice if he had said, something like "We meant well, but we were dumb kids and didn't think things through like we should have." He didn't and that really made me take a step back. He's a smart man and should realize what the consequences could have been.

[HumeSkeptic]

If you read his book, he gets into it in some detail. They actually took extra care not to hurt or k!ll.

As for consequences, he was old enough to know those, and yet took that action and many others.

That is what one calls personal sacrifice.

No, he is exactly right in his thinking. He is saying that those were mistakes (the b0mbings) because they probably didn't help the cause.

That's it.
.

[mh01]

Listen clown show, Martin luther king fought for a good cause. Ayers is a little perpetual pubescent, who shattered the lives of innocent people.

Don't you dare give him credit for his treason.

And Don't you dare mention him in the same sentence as those who fought for civil rights, he isn't even in the same sport as those people.

And which people are the fascists? the people who blow themselves up in crowded markets full of innocent women and children? The people that stone women to death for adultery? The People that practice female castration? The people who don't give their brethern the right to vote? The people who execute gays? The people who deny that the holocaust happened?

YOu have no idea what is going on in the real world, and who kept you safe from the true global fascists for the past 8 years.

Next time, just say thank you that someone has the stones to defend your right to be a total joke.

[LorettaSingbiel]

"YOu have no idea what is going on in the real world, and who kept you safe from the true global fascists for the past 8 years."

BUSH and his partners in CRIMR have "kept us safe"?

HA, HA, HA ... THAT'S RICH!

The FACISTS who have raised Al Qaeda recruitment, run roughshod over our Constitution, ruined our REAL WORLD reputation, ruined our economy, etc. for THE PAST 8 YEARS have given our #1 TERRORIST more than he could have possibly dreamed.

[LeBeau59741]

Bill Ayers was, long ago, an unashamed member of a radical political organization. Yes, he participated in bombings- Yes, he was a fugitive for many, many years, together with his wife. The two turned themselves in in 1980, BEFORE the deadly robbery of a Brinks truck was carried out by other members of the Weather Underground... Ayers and his wife had NO ROLE in that shameful act. While it is true that Mr. Ayers has never repudiated his past, he has repeatedly expressed sincere regret that violence seemed a neccessity in a desperate struggle to protest what he believed (and still believes) was an unconcionable situation. (The Vietnam war)

Today, Mr. Ayers is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Education. His interests include teaching for social justice, urban educational reform, narrative and interpretive research, children in trouble with the law, and related issues.
He Co-authored the Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant proposal that in 1995 won $49.2 million over five years for public school reform and in 1997 was named Citizen of the Year award for his work on the Annenberg project. He also serves on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty, philanthropic foundation
He seems to have found some amazingly productive outlets for both his fervor and his regrets

[Kane]

Dude, if you're going to appear on television and hope to be taken seriously, you might want to lose the earrings, get a shave, and wear something other than a t-shirt. Otherwise, you're playing right into the stereotype that republicans easily branded you with. No matter how hip and cool and groovy that you think that you once were, you are now sixty-four years old, a grandfather, and a college professor. The sixties are long since past.

[unite4change]

Why, because that the way you want to see him? He should be himself period.

[Kane]

It's not about how I want to see him. It's about first impressions. Have you never watched "What Not to Wear" on TLC?

[judyc]

Aaagh--I loved being a hippie--i miss those days.

I don't think that we all have to conform to "societal norms". I don't see anything wrong with either the earrings or the T-shirt. I think it's important to be true to yourself and to he ll with what anyone else thinks. There's too much judging going on in our society.

I must agree with bev below--it was the most honest 9 minutes of TV I've seen in a long time.

[Kane]

I still have my tie-dye shirts and I've saved some special paraphernalia from the past. Still, when in Rome...

[EarthToZoey]

Eh, I'm not a fan of earrings on a guy, but I'm not going to judge the guy over it. If people won't take someone seriously simply based on their appearance, then they may be far too shallow to get the message anyhow. No offense.

[KarenT]

Took the words right out of my mouth. Rather arrogant statement Kane.

[HumeSkeptic]

People wear earings for all kinds of reasons, and many dress differently than we are used to seeing. So what?

By your criterion, Mahatma Gandhi shouldn't have been taken seriously, and Dalai Lama should not be taken seriously.

I suggest that you pay attention to the content of what was said.

[Roxanna]

Glad to see Bill Ayers on giving his side of the story. What an articulate and forthright man intelligent man...

Who cares whether he has an ear ring or shaves... Listen to words ! We need to get past judging people by exterior... Some of the biggest Crooks in the U.S. wear 3 piece suits!

[JackDeuce]

The fact is, in any revolutionary circumstance, the losers are considered terrorists and traitors - and the winners write the history books. Our own founding fathers, whom are considered some of the smartest people of the 18th century, rose up with arms against the British. We wouldn't even exist today without the exact same spirit which Mr. Ayers invoked in the late 60's. And do keep in mind, revolutionary movements were all over the world trying to end tyranical global leaders; France, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, and in other places as well.